To think Paris Brown should be sacked at once!

[seeminglyso]

What lessons otherwise are we sending to teenagers!

[GrowSomeCress]

Whether or not she should be sacked, it's definitely a message about being careful what you put on the internet!

[Floralnomad]

I voted for Ann Barnes and I thought that having a youth person was a good idea but I've emailed this morning to say I think Paris needs to be sacked as she has lost any credibility she had . I have a teenager and a 20yr old and they would not behave in that manner .

[Fargo86]

who is she?

[GrowSomeCress]

For those who don't know what the OP is on about, Paris Brown is a youth police commissioner who tweeted a lot about sex, drugs, alcohol etc and the DM found her twitter account.

[Bridgetbidet]

To be honest she seems fairly typical of the youth of that area. They might actually get something relevant out of her.

Otherwise they're just going to end up with some high achiever who's would have zero interaction with the police in their ordinary lives and has zero input of relevance.

At least she seems the type who would have some kind of insight into the interactions people her age have with police.

[Gossipmonster]

The tweets were made between the ages of 14 and 16 - they are not recent.

[GrowSomeCress]

I will post the DM link for anyone not boycotting

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2305118/Paris-Brown-Is-foul-mouthed-self-obsessed-Twitter-teen-really-future-British-policing.html

[AgentZigzag]

I'm not saying the tweets were anything but inappropriate and she should have known better, but she was between 14-16 YO when she posted them.

If she'd posted them this last weekend then I agree she should be sacked, but not from when she was 14.

[Bridgetbidet]

Floralnomad, I imagine your kids probably wouldn't have much of relevance to say to the police about their relations with young people?

I imagine that this young lady is the kind of girl who's been hanging around in groups being moved on in shopping centres, who's done a bit of underage drinking and smoking and as a result might have some some valuable insight into why and how this happens and what can be done to prevent it.

If they simply get a well behaved child from the local grammar or private school I doubt they would be able to give much of an insight into the experience of the majority of young people in Kent with the police.

[seeminglyso]

gossipmonster I dont see what that has to do with it, they still reflect a pretty intolerant bigoted attitude...

[AgentZigzag]

I would have monitored them too Tough, but that just puts the responsibility for letting them stand on her parents doesn't it?

[sue52]

I did stupid things when I was 14. Thank goodness there was no facebook around then to boast on. She's apologised for it, let her do get on with her job now.

[McBalls]

I thought this was an embarrassing and pointless stunt anyway - even more so now that this girl turns out to be a racist twonk.

[Gossipmonster]

Do you not think this should have been checked out before she was appointed though?

[seeminglyso]

Bridgetbidet There are other kids who are still 'antisocial' who are not racist homophobics..why not choose one of those?

[RedPencils]

It's a short sharp shock into the real world for her.
Seems like most people her age, over sharing on social media and not thinking further ahead than the weekend. I have some friends with teens and I'm at some of the stuff they post.

[GrowSomeCress]

According to the articles when she was originally appointed (3rd April I think) she turned 17 that day, so was 16 when chosen. Which means some of the tweets were very recent.

[Nanny0gg]

I can't understand why the people who appointed her didn't check FB and Twitter etc first.
I thought that was the norm for employers these days, let alone for such a high-profile role.

[Startail]

She's only 17 now.
Thus this stuff was written only three years ago.

Sorry, but it's been realised for more than three years that what you write on the net comes back to haunt you.

Had she been in her mid 20's I might have sympathised, but today's teens should know that twitter and FB are not private.

[janey68]

YANBU- and the 'argument' that at least it shows she's 'down with the kids' is patronising. I don't think the vast majority of 14-16 yr olds post racist and homophobic shit, and I don't think that fact would make them unable to interact with the police.

There are plenty of confident and articulate teenagers Out there who would do a first rate job. She's lost any credibility now and should go. She shouldnt need to be sacked: the first intelligent and sensible decision she could make in the role would be to realise her position is compromised and stand down. You can't Defend that level of bigotry .

[GrowSomeCress]

Apparently she gets an official car... must be nice even though she probably can't drive yet

[Bridgetbidet]

I think you would struggle to find a 14 year old who had not used some sort of homophobic language of some type. Hasn't 'gay' been the word fo du jour for something being crap for a while?

And the race thing also, in Kent it would be very, very normal for a girl that age to refer to gypsies as pikeys. I'm not sure I would go so far as calling that racist. And the other thing was saying that someone didn't speak English and the context was lost.

I'm not sure what message it sends out if we say we're going to punish people for slightly politically incorrect things they said when they were 14 either.

McCarthyist witch hunts come to mind sometimes these days....

[ihearsounds]

My teens post some stupid things. However, they don't post anything that is racist, homophobic, moaning about a lack of sex life or drugs. Unlike this new crime tsar who was doing that 2 months ago.